Meet Mark

Let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Sisson. I’m 63 years young. I live and work in Malibu, California. In a past life I was a professional marathoner and triathlete. Now my life goal is to help 100 million people get healthy. I started this blog in 2006 to empower people to take full responsibility for their own health and enjoyment of life by investigating, discussing, and critically rethinking everything we’ve assumed to be true about health and wellness...

Dear Mark: Eggs and Colon Cancer; Softened Water and Health

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, we’ve got a two-parter. First up is a question about a sensitive subject: the collective Primal love of all things egg. They form the backbone of millions of breakfasts across the ancestral health community on a daily basis, but David wonders if they might be contributing to colorectal carcinogenesis. There are a few studies that appear to suggest a connection; should we worry? After that, I discuss the effects of softened water on human health. Is it safe? Is it healthy? Read on to find out.

Let’s go:

Hi Mark,

So I was eating close to a dozen egg whites (maybe 1-2 whole eggs) a day for a few weeks up until yesterday (10/13) when I came across an article on the alkaline diet which prompted me to look at some studies about egg consumption (including just egg whites). These studies were negative and not just because of the high cholesterol argument but because of colon and rectal issues. I never heard this before but the study is from the 90’s and well known. Wtf!? What is your position on egg consumption?

Thanks,

David

I’ve seen those egg/colon cancer studies, and they’re almost always referring to data pulled from ecological studies. An ecological study looks at large populations defined temporally or geographically. In this case, the populations were geographically-defined – they plotted the colon cancer deaths in each country against the average egg intake of that country (using a total of 34 nations, even though data was available for more). Sure enough, the more eggs a country consumed, the more colon cancer mortality they had. So, swear off eggs forever?

I’m not convinced we need to do that.

First, this is just an observational study. It’s an observation of a correlation, an association. It cannot prove causality. To do that, you’d have to propose a mechanism for the association. Here’s one mechanism, though it’s probably not the one the researchers would have chosen: rising income.

Egg intake (and intake of animal protein in general) rises as a nation’s income rises. The richer the nation, the more eggs they eat.

The higher the life expectancy, the more numerous the cancer deaths. Cancer is an old person’s disease. And mortality from colorectal cancer in particular is strongly linked to age, with the highest death rates occurring in men and women over 85. If your nation’s life expectancy is on the low end, your citizens aren’t living long enough to get colorectal cancer in droves, let alone die from it.

Second, colon cancer mortality is important, no doubt. I don’t want to die from it, and I gather neither do any of you. However, I also don’t want to die from any other degenerative disease like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, or any of the other cancers. And as Paul Jaminet elegantly displays, when you plot egg consumption against the ultimate barometer – all-cause mortality – in those same countries, the association is inverse; the greater the egg consumption, the lower the risk of all-cause mortality. Again, this is just epidemiology and not proof of causation, but it’s equally as valid as the colon cancer/egg epidemiology.

But let’s not be hasty. This is our health we’re talking about, and we shouldn’t dismiss evidence. Assuming the association actually is causative, what could explain it? Is there anything we should pay attention to when eating or choosing eggs?

When it comes to preventing cholesterol oxidation, quality of the eggs matters – a lot. I’ve always felt that when deciding where to spend your money on food, aiming for high-quality animal foods (whether butter or beef or eggs or fish) is more important than buying organic lettuce for eight bucks a pound. And we have research showing the huge disparity in quality between pastured eggs and battery farm-raised eggs that could have meaningful differences on the effects the eggs you eat have on colorectal cancer risk.

How you cook the egg matters, too, just as how you cook your meat matters. Full-on hard boiling your egg (till the yolk turns chalky) dramatically increases lipid oxidation, even more than scrambling them. If you plan on eating lots of eggs, you’d be better off keeping the yolks softer rather than harder. I’ll sometimes even toss in a raw yolk or two into a smoothie. As long as you’re getting eggs from a trusted source, the risk of food poisoning is minute. Besides, everyone knows that soft-boiled eggs are far superior to hard-boiled eggs.

Check out my egg guide for more guidance on handling this incredible food.

Mark,

I’ve looked up and down the internet, and can’t seem to get a straight answer anywhere about the health effects of drinking softened water. All the water softener companies want to assure me that is the best thing since sliced bread, while an assortment of other sites insist it will kill me in a variety of unpleasant ways. Have you done any poking around on this issue?

Thanks,

Jesse

The World Health Organization doesn’t consider softened water suitable for drinking (PDF), citing a large amount of evidence.

Softened water leaches more toxic metals than hard water. In one instance, softened water sitting in storage containers with brass fittings and lead-soldered seams caused lead poisoning in kids who drank it. Also, the calcium and magnesium normally in hard water can inhibit the absorption of lead and cadmium from the intestine by binding to receptor sites and/or forming compounds that we cannot absorb; removing them removes their inhibitory effects.

Using softened water to cook food (meat and vegetables) leads to greater mineral loss. Up to 60% of magnesium and calcium, 66% of copper, 70% of manganese, and 86% of cobalt leach into softened water used for cooking.

The biggest downside, though? Softening water means removing the minerals that are supposed to be there, minerals like calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate that our bodies need to function. It’s likely that we’ve evolved drinking hard water. Most natural bodies of water, including the rivers, streams, and springs from which humans have historically quenched their thirst, contain hard water rich in these minerals. And a decent amount of epidemiological evidence points toward it being a factor in human health. A small sampling:

Splurge for a good high mineral-content mineral water. Gerolsteiner is a good widely available one and, if you can find a European market (or you happen to live in Europe) that carries it, Borsec (from Romania) is also great. Both of these waters are rich in calcium, bicarbonate, and magnesium. Whole Foods brand mineral water has a high mineral content, too, although I don’t know the specific mineral breakdown.

Very good point. And getting the eggs during nesting season would have been a rather perilous undertaking for Grok or Grokette. If you’ve ever been chased by nesting geese or magpies, you’ll know what I mean. I guess there was always frog spawn…

I think that avoiding regular patterns in the food you eat is good generally–did Grok have access to ANYTHING year round? I should take this advice, I tend to be way too consistent and habit driven. Time for a bacon break.

It appears that protein sources are consistently to blame for colon cancer however I would like to see some studies on gluten containing grains on the same subject. Considering most diets consistently have bread, pastas and other gluten containing grains the same time the protein is consumed. Not to mention so many other digestive issues also stem from the inflammation factors of gluten as well.

Grain products have long been a sacred cow. Blame it on effective marketing, biblical connotations, lack of nutritional knowledge, and the fact that most of us grew up on starchy foods because they are cheap and filling. They are also somewhat addictive–a perpetual comfort food. However, this is slowly changing as people are finding out that grains (and other starches, NOT just gluten-containing products) are the underlying culprit with many of their health issues.

It’s just more of that “meat is bad/sat fat is bad” propaganda. The latest from is woven in with carbon emissions and sustainability–lamb and beef are rated the worst, and veg sources are rated the best.

This article originally ran back in February, but was re-released when Nina Teicholtz’s book was really taking off, and the whole global warming thing was seriously in doubt (a lot of “where’s global warming?” articles).

Livestock, properly managed, actually heal the landscape. If you rotate grazers in such a way that (a) they move on once vegetation height is decreased by about half and (b) they do not return until a full recovery has been made (or a couple months), then with each cycle you have more soil, more fertility, more biodiversity, more vegetation, more abundance. This system sequesters more carbon than it emits, produces supremely healthy cows, and actually uses less land than the usual methods. Called “cell grazing”.

I thought it was more along the lines of protein sources exposed to high heat produce carcinogens. These can be quenched by marinades prior to cooking, and eating fruit and veg alongside the protein. Cooking methods matter, and so does meal composition.

Removing grains is obviously a good idea if you’re Celiac or gluten/grain intolerant, but it does also suggest a subpar gut flora. When looking at GI tract cancers, the gut flora isn’t something that can be ignored. And in many people, grains, along with beans and veg, positively interact with gut flora to improve health. Hopefully my point doesn’t come across as a discouragement from eating a diet that works for you; I just wanted to note that it’s a complex issue: grains have their benefits as well as their disadvantages, and gut flora status cannot be overlooked if you want the whole picture.

I can only speak for myself as the last 5 years without grains has been a much more enjoyable life than the previous 35 this also includes the processed foods and along with sugars the change in daily health benefits have been to many to list.

I would assume the majority of MDA readers share a similar story. Hopefully the majority is also interested in testing their gut flora (American Gut Project) so we can start to get some data on what’s going on. An interesting question would be whether just eliminating grains from the diets of people who are grain-intolerant is enough to reduce GI tract cancer risk (since I assume continuing to eat grains would contribute to inflammation), or if seeding with missing species that would induce tolerance is necessary. It will be interesting to follow the research.

Eggs are wonderfully healthful, but maybe not so much if one eats too many of them. I eat a couple of eggs two or three times a week, but I’ve seen people bragging about eating half a dozen eggs every single day, and I have to wonder what they are thinking. As with most things, more isn’t necessarily better. I think variety and moderation are the key to staying healthy, not an overkill of one particular food.

I eat approximately 30 to 40 eggs per week, have been diagnosed with lynches syndrome ( this means I have about an 80% chanced of having colon cancer before 50) I am currently 41 years of age and have been following a paleo/primal diet for almost 5 years. Had a colonoscopy a few months ago and clean as a whistle. While most family members with this would have had cancer already I am still clean and the others follow a SAD diet

You read my thoughts egg-xactly, and it’s no egg-xaggeration to say that these Groks and Grokettes are all egg-straordinarily mature, hens the egg-cellent discourse. But all this talk about eggs is making me peckish, so I’ll stop yolking around now…

Egg pun attempting…the only way eggs can give you colorectal cancer is if you tried to lay one yourself.

Pass or fail? You decide.

Anecdotal on my neighbor who just had the right side of his colon removed: eggs had nothing to do with it. He doesn’t even LIKE eggs! His issue was with processed foods and not enough fiber. Now that he’s healed, he’s diving right back into the same pool that he nearly drowned in, and no amount of books, websites, or friendly helpful dietary advice is going to stop him. He’s even got cases of soda stacked up in one corner of his kitchen.

Velveeta holds a hallowed spot in the refrigerator. Both the husband and wife shudder at the mere mention of fat.

I’m just counting the days until he relapses. In the meantime, I’m asking his wife what her plans are for when it comes back and finally kills him.

I once drank directly out of a natural spring I stumbled across while on an unexpectedly long, steep hike for which I had not brought enough water. I thought, “Damn the torpedoes and giardia and whatever else,” and drank at least a liter. And I didn’t die. And indeed, it was and remains the absolute most delicious and excellent water-drinking experience of my life.

I’m absolutely biased, but the best mineral water comes from Germany. If you look at a map, all the names that contain “Bad” or “Baden” indicate the presence of natural mineral springs. The Kochbrunnenplatz (hot spring square) in Wiesbaden, lives up to its name — the water comes out of the ground at 68.75 degrees Celsius (155.75 Fahrenheit). It’s pretty pungent, and I used to have to hold my nose when I drank it.

I was delighted to find Gerolsteiner at Whole Foods, but then they stopped selling it, so I switched to Apollinaris, and WF stopped carrying that, too! So now I’m buying San Pellegrino (until they stop selling it). I’ve never been impressed by Perrier.

There are numerous proposed carcinogens in eggs- as in any animal product- from the products of combustion to animal protein per se. The studies up to date are not extensive enough to unilaterally say- it’s 100% bad for you. There are numerous variables such as the origin of the produce, the amount eaten, other elements of diet etc. Hopefully credible research in the near future will give us more specific answers.

Mark you are being too polite on the egg issue. Observational/ecological “studies” should have no place in the primal/paleo/low-carb mindset. They prove nothing and their only purpose is to win media headlines for the low-fat, vegetarian propaganda (have you ever seen an observational/ecological “study” that implicates negatively grains and/or fruit and veg?).

Pastured eggs are a perfect, sacred food and should be consumed liberally and without fear. About a dozen a week sounds right to me, but not 50!!!

I’m just one person but I’ve been eating four to six eggs a day my entire life. So that 28 to 42 per week. And I’m 48 years old.

Here’s my latest blood work. Total Cholesterol 181, LDL 77, HDL 94, Triglycerides 54. My very low density lipoprotiens (VLD) was 5 on a suggested optimum scale of 0-40 with lowest being the best. I have a less than zero theoretical chance of heart disease. That’s theoretical of course.

Eggs are a superfood.There’s very few things on earth that are so nutrient dense and the protein bio-availability is superior to an natural source available.

If eggs make you feel good, then eat them. If they make you feel bad or you hate the taste don’t eat them. But putting arbitrary number restrictions on them don’t make any sense.

I love the mind of Paul Jaminet- Cool, calm, composed….and hilarious! I burst out laughing when I got to “starlight causes assorted diseases”!

Here is Paul’s considered response to an egg critic:

“Conclusion

“Victor seems to have fallen for a rookie mistake: taking associations too seriously.

“Positive associations with diseases exist for every food. Consider what would happen if you took a variable totally unconnected to health – say, the mean number of stars above a certain brightness in a country’s night sky – and looked for associations with national health outcomes. Simply by chance, some diseases would show a positive association and some would show a negative correlation. If you only publish the positive associations, you can scare naïve readers into thinking that starlight causes assorted diseases.

“And if you repeat the exercise for foods, you could scare naïve readers into avoiding every single food in existence, as Victor has eschewed beef, lamb, eggs, and rice.”

Most houses (that I’ve lived in, YMMV) only soften the hot water, or have one tap somewhere that isn’t softened. (In my house currently, it does both: the bathroom tap has the best drinking water in the house.) Soft water is a necessary evil. I wouldn’t drink it, but I sure as heck don’t have the money to put straight well water into the washing machine. //laugh// I tend to think it’s okay to bathe in, but I’m supplementing minerals anyway with my bathing sea salts.

May I suggest the electric egg cooker…there are several brands…they hold 7 eggs with a little water in the bottom and steam the eggs to the right doneness. A dial on the side can be set to soft boiled or hard boiled or in between. Comes out perfect every time with no grey ring around the yolk like boiling…just thought you might like to know.

Just eating the egg whites ? – your leaving the best part behind (assuming your eating eggs from free range chickens being fed vegetables) – the eggs I get are all that, and the chickens apparently get the occasional cuddle from their farmers also !!?

I get a lot of comments when I eat the whole egg (including the yolk) – “isn’t that high in cholesterol” (often muttered while they prepare their “healthy” wholegrain toast with same unexplainable processed topping).

I sure hope they are full of cholesterol, given the body needs this fundamental building block to survive.

truthfully eating WHOLE eggs has more benefits,
in my younger years just consuming E.White my
health deteriote faster, ie: in early 30’s hair started
greying ….. etc
hwr now in early 50’s my long hair is naturally Dark
& Shinning (without therapy) and looks like any 30’s.
nb: noticed & fully support tht eggs should NOT be
over cooked especially the yoke.
my 2cents opinion.

We often argue, that grains etc’ were not routinely available to Grok; and rightly so. At the same token, one can argue that he didn’t have an unlimited supply of eggs. And I agree with that as well.

Now don’t get me wrong – I think that eggs are wonderful and tasty (I eat organic eggs everyday and in a verity of ways – raw yolks included) but a dozen a day? And the whites instead of the yolks? That doesn’t make sense, since most if not all the nutritional values (and good fats) are in the yolks. We wouldn’t gorge ourselves on a 1 k”g (2 pound) of red meat everyday, and eggs are no exception.

If anything, it’s better to toss some of the whites and keep the yolks; i.e. 4 egg omelet or scrambled with 2 egg whites.

Thanks Joanna! Have you tried Shakshuka yet? The recipe on MDA is one of many available, and most, include tomatoes and a fresh hot green pepper as the main ingredients. Yum, I think that’s what I will have for breakfast today.

I have been using well water since 1989, Has no fluoride or chlorine, I have wondered if its good for me or not, I do worry about parasites but lately I’m seeing that it has been good for my family’s health. Not to mention I don’t have to pay a high water bill.

What about a reverse osmosis system? I’m very concerned about my fluoride intake and I can’t drink water bottled in plastic. I’ve never bothered to think about it but if I’m drinking softened water without knowing it… Maybe I should look into those mineral drops… Or can I just sneak a little bit of mineral water in my water tank?

Likewise, I have an reverse osmosis system. I decided I don’t need fluoride or chlorine in my water, thanks. I’ve been drinking reverse osmosis water for 14 years now. Maybe I should get some mineral drops? One reviewer for the ‘Concentrace’ drops Mark mentioned said they had a little too much arsenic for comfort.

So what about rainwater? Is that bad? My tap water (Sydney, Australia) has total dissolved solids around 90PPM generally. Is that good, bad, indifferent, or does it all depend on what’s in it? Reverse osmosis takes it down to 1PPM.

Take note, the US is in the minority when it comes to water fluoridation. And other western countries that do, are in the process of stopping this so called “healthy” practice. It’s time it stops here as well!

Help me here. I travel and carry hard boiled eggs because they’re portable. I eat scrambled eggs when I’m in a hurry. Now I’m killing myself by trying to eat healthy? I give up. Raw eggs will not do. Eat this but don’t eat it is the message I get if I read all this stuff. I live in the real world where organic grass fed etc etc don’t always exist. The more info I get the less I know.

Cate, don’t treat the issue raised above so literally. (:
You’re not eating 10 eggs a day aren’t you? Just don’t boil your eggs for a very long time (7 minutes or less for creamy & soft eggs placed into boiling water, or 10+- minutes if starting cold will suffice). Eggs with gray outer yolks (sulfur) are oxidized eggs. You can also carry with you an avocado and plastic knife and spoon – simply cut the avocado in half and spoon out the flesh. It’s a good source for healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, will keep you sated and won’t spoil.

Not using a water softener is not an option for everyone. We live in western Maryland and our water is so hard that it would pass for a tonic water mixer if it were carbonated. We had to go with a softener just to keep our major appliances from dissolving. We have lots of springs in the area but they too come from the same limestone dominated aquifers. And the safety of those are suspect due to the high rates of surface contamination due to said porous limestone.

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You answer on eggs is excellent, Mark. Things not always look like the seem to be. Like – “Hey, eat this, it lowers your cholesterol.” “Nice, but what is it good for?”. I have the same opinion on getting organic animal products vs organic produce. I prefer organic animal products that wasn’t fed junk, but I actually prefer my plant matter not organic, because use of pesticides might not sound good, but it assures me my food wasn’t already food of someone else (bugs or birds).

Mark: I have a close friend who is an Internist, cross trained in Integrative Medicine. When I asked him about eggs, he indicated that cooking does indeed make a difference. He suggests poaching as perhaps the best method–again better on the soft side. He suggests, like with any food, not overdoing eggs–and cook them in a way that uses less heat.

What about rain water? Here in regional Australia, the major source of water is the rain collected off our roof area. Storage tanks range from corrugated iron, cement to plastic. Must be soft, as we never have problems with appliances. My kids grew up on rainwater, with no fluoride, and they barely have 5 fillings between them.

“Cancer is an old persons disease”. How offensive to the millions and millions and millions and millions of people, like me who have lost a young person to this disease. Not to mention the mothers and fathers who have lost children.
Also your suggested “mechanism” does not prove causality anymore than the studies you have brushed aside. In fact, they are just your theories, not backed up with any evidence at all.
What a frustratingly useless and misleading article to come across when trying to find out some real information on this topic.

Too much misinformation in your articles to attack without writing volumes so I will make the reply short.

Eggs, dairy and meat should be very limited, with the exception of maybe yogurt, and there are many valid studies to support my position in avoiding cancer and/or heart disease. Never mind all the toxins that may be found because just large amounts of animal protein causes enough problems. And of course, there are all the nutrients that are found in low-calorie density vegetables and fruits.

The five Blue Zones of long-living populations do not consume large quantities of those items that I said should be limited and get over 80% of their calories from whole plant-based foods. If it is good enough for the traditional Okinawians it is good enough for the rest of us instead of waiting another fifty years or longer for scientific studies to provide more details.